Ministries and other national bodies

Plans were finalized last week for the first direct flight between Cambodia and Japan, which is set to launch in September, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon, who met with Japanese Ambassador Kumamaru Yuji on Thursday.   ...

The Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts is planning to install so-called “justice scales” at all markets throughout the Kingdom to ensure customers are not being overcharged for items that weigh less than their sellers claim, according to ministry spokesman Oum Sitha.     ...

Experts warn that soaring population, vehicle use, condominium construction, minimal enforcement of parking and vehicle tax laws and lackluster public transit options could spell decades of gridlock if action is not taken soon. ...

Agro-industrial giant Mong Reththy Group is finalising construction on the Kingdom’s first pig skin processing factory and expects production to begin by the end of the year, a company executive said yesterday. ...

Minister of Environment Say Sam Al has sent a letter to the Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction asking to register nearly six million  hectares of land as protected under the Ministry of the Environment.    ...

Cambodia’s total agricultural production was down slightly last year while a larger share of this production went to exports, the Ministry of Agriculture said in its annual report, released yesterday. ...

The first tranche of fire trucks headed to Cambodia in a deal the government struck with China last year to furnish the country with fire-fighting vehicles for the provinces arrived on Wednesday, the head of the national police force’s fire department said.   ...

In a startling admission yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture finally acknowledged that the Kingdom’s forest cover has decreased rapidly over the past few decades, down from a high of 73 percent in 1965 to now, where only 49.5 percent of the country’s forests remain. ...

USAID and the US Treasury Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) have launched a joint initiative with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to improve fiscal transparency and accountability in the management of public finances, according to a press release issued yesterday.   ...

A notorious fraudster with whom Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana allegedly had a business relationship has turned out to be a violent critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen.     ...

With a $148 million injection of capital through a Share Purchase Agreement, National Bank of Canada (NBC) now holds a 90 percent stake in ABA Bank, according to ABA and NBC executives, who ensured that the agreement will not alter ABA Bank’s strategy but enhance ...

To help improve the logistics sector, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation has announced it will set up the Logistics Committee, which will work to improve the flow of goods in the Kingdom. ...

The total number of telephone subscriptions in Cambodia surpassed the 21-million mark earlier this year   ...

An environmental youth group has asked the National Assembly’s head of the Environment and Water Resource Commission, Pol Hom, to visit and investigate the pollution that will be caused by construction of Laos’ Don Sahong hydropower dam. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will send officials to South Korea next month to further investigate the case of former ambassador Suth Dina, who was arrested and detained at Prey Sar prison early last month on corruption charges. ...

Two convicted Cambodian-American fraudsters were named among five shareholders, including Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, in a shadowy offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands in the latest trove of “Panama Papers,” which were released on Tuesday.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday confirmed official announcements made on Monday that about 70,000 cubic meters of timber confiscated by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) would be put up for auction, reneging on his previous statement that the timber would go to the Education Ministry ...

The Labor Ministry has called for improvements to workplace safety in response to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report stating that 181 workers died in more than 30,000 workplace accidents across the Kingdom last year, according to officials. ...

Forty factories were registered during the first three months of the year, creating over 12,000 jobs, according to new data by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. ...

Twenty-nine Cambodian men were arrested while logging rosewood in the mountains of Thailand’s Prachinburi province on Wednesday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Friday.  ...

In order to promote and protect the rights of migrants and migrant workers, Cambodia and the Philippines held their first bilateral roundtable meeting over migration earlier this week. ...

Cambodia is hosting the two-day 19th ASEAN Valuers Association (AVA) Congress, the first time it has been held in the Kingdom. ...

The Ministry of Industry and Handicraft and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) yesterday signed an agreement for facilitating patent grants to obtain protection in Cambodia. ...

Two more refugees being held by Australia in an offshore detention facility have volunteered to relocate to Cambodia, an immigration official said on Wednesday, a sign that the teetering resettlement deal between the two countries has yet to run its course. ...